Comptroller Kevin Lembo, responding to a report on the state’s broadband deficiencies, said that technology infrastructure investment – including both ultra-high-speed broadband networks and data centers – is absolutely imperative to both attract businesses to Connecticut and to keep existing industries from leaving.

Lembo issued a statement after Consumer Counsel Elin Swanson Katz released a report today called "A Brief Overview of Broadband Deficiencies in Connecticut” that details changes faced by Connecticut businesses, hospitals, community service providers and residents in obtaining adequate, reliable and reasonably priced broadband services.

The report, prepared by CTC Technology & Energy of Washington, D.C., revealed the significant lengths and costs that many Connecticut businesses, particularly those in Hartford and the Northwest region, must endure to access even basic broadband service – sometimes costing $10,000 to $30,000 out of pocket just to connect to high-quality fiber and broadband across the street because providers have declined to deliver it.

"This report confirms what I have already heard from Connecticut businesses, large and small – that access to necessary technology infrastructure is largely unaffordable or unattainable throughout the state,” Lembo said. "Connecticut businesses of all size and industry, considering whether to stay or go, demand a vibrant technological infrastructure in the same way they demand reliable roads, bridges and public transportation.

"Connecticut has great potential – with its geography, number of PhDs per capita, relationship to the financial markets, productive workforce and its institutions of higher education – to be a home for entrepreneurs and innovation if we give businesses the tools to establish and grow.

"Whether by public or private initiatives, or a partnership across all sectors, we need to deliver on our promise to make Connecticut a destination to live and work by taking this issue seriously.

"I commend Consumer Counsel Katz for her leadership on this, and look forward to continuing to work with her and municipalities and businesses across the state to continue to explore possible solutions to Connecticut’s broadband deficiencies.”